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The Algerian newspaper Le Quotidien d’Oran claims that Paris has asked Algiers for help in the regional crisis in the Sahel.

This seems to have been the main reason for the trip to Algiers on April 8 by the Chief of Staff of the French army, General François Lecointre, for face-to-face talks with Algeria’s Chief of Staff, General Said Chengriha. Never before had the de facto head of the French army’s operational command travelled to Algiers. According to experts on both shores, the agenda for the meeting included the Sahel, with the powder kegs of Niger and Mali, Libya, the aftermath of the French nuclear site in Algeria, and the terrorist phenomenon in North Africa.

Paris would like to put an honourable end to its derailed Operation Barkhane, a continuation of the previous Serval and Epervier operations, which in six years of deploying joint French and Sahelian forces, with the support of the US, the UK, Germany and Spain, has made the region even worse than before its military intervention. Paris wants to withdraw to Libya and is discussing with Algiers the Sahel takeover. Operation Takuba, launched by Europe less than a year ago, is not likely to succeed. It is no coincidence that Algerian President Tebboune has pushed through an amended constitution, legalising Algerian military intervention outside its borders for the first time. Läs artikel

Russia’s defense minister said Tuesday that the country’s massive military buildup in the west was part of readiness drills amid what he described as threats from NATO.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the maneuvers in western Russia that have worried neighboring Ukraine and brought warnings from NATO would last for another two weeks. […]

In the past three weeks, the Russian military has deployed two armies and three airborne formations to western regions “as a response to the alliance’s military activities threatening Russia,” the defense minister said. […]

Amid the recent tensions, the United States notified Turkey that two U.S. warships would sail to the Black Sea on April 14 and April 15 and stay there until May 4 and May 5. The U.S. Navy ships have made regular visits to the Black Sea in past years, vexing Moscow. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov denounced the latest deployment as “openly provocative,” adding that “American ships have absolutely nothing to do near our shores.”Läs artikel

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III announced that, after consultations with German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the United States will base an additional 500 service members in Germany by the fall. […]

The increase reverses the policy of the previous administration, which looked to drastically reduce the number of U.S. forces based in Germany. President Joe Biden announced a policy to freeze that process, which included moving the headquarters for the Stuttgart-based U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command. The president ordered a global posture review to determine how to best station U.S. forces around the world. […]

”Strengthening our relationship with Germany is a top priority for the Biden-Harris administration,” Austin said. ”Underscoring our strong commitment to allies and partners is at the forefront of my agenda, this includes advancing our transatlantic partnership, and increasing cooperation with our NATO allies,” he said. Läs artikel

[…] Fast forward to 2021. Curiously enough, America’s armed forces are once again recovering from the trauma of a conflict — the “war on terror” — that, over nearly 20 years, has largely been lost. For most Pentagon officials, repeating disasters like Iraq and Afghanistan ad infinitum would be anything but a desirable course. So, once again, it’s back to the past, an all-too-comfortable return to planning for future wars against near-peer threats.

Instead of unconventional warfare against so-called asymmetrical foes (think Islamist militias with roadside bombs), we’re back to relatively symmetrical warfare using staggeringly expensive conventional weaponry, as well as skills and mindsets that have the concomitant benefit of justifying huge Pentagon budgets long into the future. Think of it as a win-win situation for all, or so the U.S. military evidently now believes. And if the expected war never comes, at least that military will be replenished with lots of new weaponry (at considerable taxpayer expense). Läs artikel

Regeringen vill införa ett nytt brott – utlandsspioneri – för att motverka att känsliga uppgifter om Sveriges internationella samarbeten sprids.

Efter kritik görs undantag, så att medier inte hindras från att rapportera om missförhållanden.

Redan 2017 kom en utredning med förslag om hur utlandsspioneri ska kunna bli straffbart. Nu presenterar regeringen ett utkast till lagrådsremiss med sikte på ny lagstiftning 2023. I dag kan man dömas för spioneri om man röjer hemliga uppgifter som gynnar främmande makt och skadar Sverige. Men regeringen anser att det finns en lucka, eftersom nuvarande lag bara siktar in sig på handlingar som utgör ett direkt hot mot landets säkerhet.

Frågan har blivit mer aktuell på senare år, när Sverige deltar i allt fler internationella freds- och säkerhetsbevarande insatser, till exempel i Afghanistan och Mali. Om hemliga uppgifter om insatserna sprids skadar det kanske inte rikets säkerhet direkt, men däremot Sveriges samarbete med andra länder och organisationer. Läs artikel

NATO is an organization that is very good at not actually doing anything —and it should stay that way. It is when NATO tries to do things that it causes endless amounts of trouble.

For when NATO likes to boast that it is “the most successful alliance in history” because it deterred a Soviet attack on Western Europe and so never had to fight a war, that is true, but it obscures another historical truth that NATO has forgotten.

This truth is that in the late 1940s and early 1950s, both the USSR and the United States decided independently that they would not seek to expand their political systems and alliances in Europe using military force or the threat of it — for the obvious reason that any such move would be likely to lead to a catastrophic nuclear war. This is something that we urgently need to remember, as NATO squares up to Russia (or pretends to) in Ukraine.

Thus, even before the introduction of the Truman Doctrine and of U.S. support for Greece and Turkey in 1947 — and three years before the creation of NATO — Josef Stalin had already decided not to support the Greek communists in the civil war there. Furthermore, he had also pressured the Yugoslav communist government not to do so, contributing to the Soviet-Yugoslav split. […]

From this point of view, the Cold War was not won between 1989 and 1991. It was won between 1956, when the Hungarian masses revolted against communism, and 1961, when the East German communist state confessed that the only way it could stop its population from running away to a better life in West Germany was by building a giant prison wall to keep them in. From that moment, Soviet communism as an ideological model in Europe was dead. Läs artikel

[…] Criticism of the counterterrorism strategy driving these wars is not new. We have long been among the critics arguing that counterterrorism strategies have worsened violent extremism (see commentaries from 2009 and 2020). What is new in 2021, at least for the Sahel, is that the consensus view in elite Western policy circles is turning toward sharp criticism of current policy. Recent publications from Chatham House in London, the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, and the International Crisis Group in Brussels reflect the shift.

All three reports agree that Western counterterrorism policy in the Sahel has failed, being both over-militarized and ineffective. All suggest, in slightly varying language, that policy must be “rebalanced” or “rethought” to emphasize diplomacy and good governance. This includes “talking with terrorists.” And while the emphasis on governance, along with military action, has long been part of the rhetoric of the international community and of powers engaged in the region, the new tone is clearly different. […]

The Chatham House report states that in the Sahel today, “Success depends first and foremost on the willingness (much more than on the capacity) of corrupt leaders to reform and renew their social contract with citizens, especially in rural areas. International efforts will fail as long as impunity prevails and local armies can kill civilians and topple governments without consequence.” Läs artikel

Ur finska försvarsmakten nya broschyr.

Genom beväringstjänsten uppbyggs Försvarsmaktens beredskap, och värnpliktiga utbildas för uppgifter inom det militära försvaret.
Enligt grundlagen är varje finländare skyldig att försvara landet. Värnplikten gäller 18–60-åriga män. Kvinnor kan söka till frivillig militärtjänst. I de uppbåd som från augusti till december ordnas på ca 250 orter, deltar alla finländska män under det år de fyller 18 år. Vid uppbåden granskas de värnpliktigas tjänstduglighet, och de får framföra sina önskemål om tjänstgöringen, utgående från vilka tidpunkten för inledandet av tjänstgöringen och tjänstgöringsplatsen fastställs. För kvinnor som har sökt till frivillig militärtjänst ordnas ett eget informations- och urvalstillfälle.
De som har fullgjort beväringstjänsten ingår i Försvarsmaktens omfattande reserv, som består av ca 900 000 finländare. Försvarsmaktens krigstida styrka på 280 000 soldater kompletteras vid behov med andra reservister. Reservisternas kunskaper upprätthålls genom repetitionsövningar samt frivilliga övningar och utbildningar.
Under beväringstjänsten, som varar 165, 255 eller 347 dagar, får de värnpliktiga högklassig militär utbildning. Genom programmet Utbildning 2020, som tas i bruk under 2021, utvecklas beväringarnas utbildningssystem samt utbildningsmetoderna och tjänstgöringsvalen. Inom utbildningen utnyttjas modern teknologi. De som ska utbildas ges mer ansvar för sitt eget lärande. Läs broschyren

På natten syns ett sällsamt skådespel i öster. Det är som om ett oändligt luciatåg drar fram längs horisonten, utan slut och början, med långsamt vandrande ljus. Här går fraktfartygen upp mot Nynäshamn och till hamnarna längre upp längs Norrlandskusten, men framför allt fartygen som ska in i Finska viken och till hamnarna utanför S:t Petersburg. […]

Östersjön är ettav världens mest intensivt trafikerade hav. Om man tittar på sajten marinetraffic.com syns liknande ansamlingar i Röda havet, Persiska viken, runt Godahoppsudden, Malackasundet, Formosasundet, Sydkinesiska sjön. När denna text skrivs på söndagen ligger nära 300 fartyg i rutten St Petersburg – Öresund och nästan lika många i Malacka, en fascinerande ögonblicksbild av varuutbytet mellan länder. […]

Alla som har haft att göra med antagonistiska ambassader vet att deras verktyg och metoder är gränslöst försåtliga, men det brukar inte leda till rop på minskad världshandel. Stämningen är annorlunda nu. Handel med Ryssland och Kina och svenska företags närvaro i Kina har i Sverige kommit att uppfattas som en svaghet. Att stå upp för den långsiktiga svenska handelslinjen beskrivs som ”naivt”, ett kodord för revision. Globaliseringen ska rullas tillbaka, värdekedjor brytas, företag flytta ut och produktion flytta hem. Stämningen i resten av Europa är likartad. Trumps tänkande vinner mark överallt. […]

Den långa linjen av fartyg genom Östersjön och Malackasundet är en styrka för fred och välstånd. Den ska vi hålla fast vid. Alternativet gör världen farligare. Väst ska stå upp mot den kinesiska diktaturens kränkningar och mot rysk aggression men också stå för våra handelsintressen. Läs artikel

Danmark sender fra 2022 igen specialoperationsstyrker til Mali. Men der kan sås tvivl om, hvorvidt indsatsen nytter noget. Vestlige styrker i Mali vinder ganske vist sporadiske taktiske sejre, men har ikke rykket ved noget på det strategiske plan. Jihadisternes angreb på regeringssoldater og civilbefolkning bliver stadig flere, fortæller seniorforsker og Mali-ekspert Signe Marie Cold-Ravnkilde.[…]

Sikkerhedssituationen i regionen – og i Mali i særdeleshed – kompliceres af en broget skare af aktører og langvarige interne konflikter, ligesom det har vist sig, at heller ikke de regeringstro styrker er fine i kanten. Faktisk står Malis regering for en stor del af volden, fortæller Signe Marie Cold-Ravnkilde, som er seniorforsker ved Dansk Institut for Internationale Studier (DIIS) og ekspert i sikkerhedssituationen i Mali og Sahelregionen.

»I Vesten portrætteres krigen som en kamp mod terror, men der er også nogle lokale fortegn. Udover terrorgrupperne er der en række mere eller mindre regeringstro militser, som udøver vold og overgreb mod civilbefolkningen. Endelig ser vi, at de væbnede styrker fra både Mali og den regionale G5-styrke, som Vesten støtter og samarbejder med, også har begået overgreb på civilbefolkningen i forbindelse med antiterroroperationer. Derfor er det et mere mudret billede, når man dykker ned i konteksten.«[…]

Samtidig har de ambitiøse jihadistgrupper lukreret på flere langvarige konfliktdynamikker befolkningsgrupperne imellem. I Mali har de især rekrutteret blandt de såkaldt Fulani-pastorale grupper, som ligger i strid med andre etniske grupper, herunder det mere fastboende Dogon-folkeslag, der har sine egne militser, og som regeringen har brugt til at indhente efterretninger, forklarer Signe Marie Cold-Ravnkilde og uddyber:

»Fulani-grupperne bliver så associeret med jihadister, og derfor er det gået hårdt ud over dem. Hele landsbyer bliver brændt ned, ligesom jihadisterne har dræbt civile, som er de største ofre for volden. Den beskyttelse, FN’s MINUSMA-operation har mandat til at udøve, er de facto meget svær at udføre. Derudover angriber jihadistgrupperne også humanitære organisationer, hvilket gør det meget svært at hjælpe civilbefolkningen.« Läs artikel

Press freedom advocates on Sunday marked the two-year anniversary of Julian Assange’s arrest at the hands of British police by demanding that the Biden administration immediately drop all U.S. charges against the WikiLeaks publisher, who is currently facing 17 counts of violating the Espionage Act.

”Today marks two full years that Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange has been incarcerated at Belmarsh prison,” said Rebecca Vincent, director of international campaigns at Reporters Without Borders. ”Shame on the U.S. and U.K. It’s time to free Assange.”

In April of 2019, U.K. law enforcement officers dragged Assange out of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London—where he was granted asylum nearly seven years earlier—following Ecuador President Lenin Moreno’s decision to revoke the publisher’s protections.

Since his arrest, Assange has been detained in a high-security London prison while battling the U.S. government’s attempt to extradite him, an effort that began under the Trump administration and has continued under President Joe Biden.

Given that Assange is facing up to 175 years in prison for publishing classified documents—something that journalists do often—the U.S. extradition push has been widely condemned as a dire threat to press freedoms around the world. Läs artikel